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Abstract: 

Since 1992, the Municipal Finance Journal has partnered with the National Federation of Municipal Analysts to publish selected presentations from the annual NFMA conference. This arrangement ensures that the insightful comments from market experts are shared with a broader audience. Conference presenters are given the opportunity to revise their transcribed conference presentations into professionally edited articles. This issue of MFJ includes edited proceedings from the 2013 annual conference held in San Diego. One of the most vexing issues that burst on the scene in recent years is the reform of public employee pension and benefit systems. A panel exploring the issues, with portfolio manager Deidra Krys-Rusoff as moderator, includes city pension system actuary Robert North, national union director Steve Kreisberg, and state pension director Steve Toole. In addition to their respective substantive presentations, the question and answer session offers rich detail on their different perspectives on this hot topic. There are lessons to learn from the City of Detroit’s municipal bankruptcy filing and a few other notable filings claiming large pension liabilities, but Chapter 9 filings can refl ect other types of insolvency claims and developments that demand attention. The second panel, moderated by attorney Mark Berman, builds on the contributions from attorney Marc Levinson (who represented Vallejo and now Stockton in those city filings), bond insurer Scott Richbourg, and institutional investor general counsel Hannah Sullivan. Through a series of probing questions about recent bankruptcy developments, the panelists systematically explore the process and results from recent Chapter 9 bankruptcy cases. A mainstay of NFMA conferences is the municipal industry roundtable. Moderated by asset manager Jeffrey Burger, this year’s panelists include Lynnette Kelly, executive director of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board; issuer representatives Colin MacNaught and Ben Watkins (who also represented the Government Finance Officers Association); and David Bean, research director of the Governmental Accounting Standards Board. Each offers an update from his or her position on topics such as municipal market regulation, issuer disclosure practices, accounting standards, and municipal bond tax exemption. As with previous NFMA conferences, the edited remarks from these selected sessions yield valuable comments by experts from a variety of vantage points in the municipal market. In addition, this issue includes an article analyzing the market functions of Municipal Advisors (MA) based on research done by this editor working with Martin Luby of DePaul University.

Keywords: Pension and benefit reform, Chapter 9, bankruptcy and bond transactions, GASB pension standards, GFOA,Dodd-Frank and municipal advisors, MSRB jurisdiction

Affiliations:  1: Georgia State University.